Body Lipids of Guinea Pigs Exposed to Different Dietary Fats from Mid-Gestation to 3 Months of Age

Abstract

Pregnant guinea pigs were fed on one of three diets: a commercial low-fat diet or a high-fat diet containing either maize oil or beef dripping. The young were killed at birth, the brain removed and dissected into three regions; the cerebellum, cerebrum and stem. The fatty acid composition of the major phospholipid classes, phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine was determined using gas chromatography. Compared with those fed the commercial or beef dripping diet the brain of the young of mothers fed maize oil during pregnancy had an increased percentage of linoleic acid and of its long-chain derivatives arachidonic acid and docosapentaenoic acid and a lower percentage of docosahexaenoic acid. These changes occurred in both lipid classes and in all regions of the brain. The results demonstrate that the fatty acid composition of the brain lipids of newborn guinea pigs can be influenced by the nature of the maternal dietary fat consumed during the last weeks of pregnancy.

Lowering dietary n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids

“…Five studies reported higher brain DHA in the low linoleic acid groups [31,32,35,37,39], whereas seven showed no effect of varying linoleic acid on brain DHA [33,34,36,38,[40][41][42]. The five studies that reported an effect all had dietary linoleic acid levels in the higher group of over 30% of fatty acids, whereas five of the seven showing no effect had dietary linoleic acid levels of less than 30% in the high group.…”

“…Twelve studies were identified that examined the effect of varying concentrations of dietary linoleic acid during early life on brain ARA and DHA [31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42]. Early life studies are here defined as those in which the dietary intervention began before weaning; in six studies dams were fed the diets throughout pregnancy [31][32][33][34][35][36], in two the dams were put on the diets in the second half of pregnancy [37,38], and in four, piglets were hand fed liquid diets from birth [39][40][41][42] (Table 1a).…”

“…Early life studies are here defined as those in which the dietary intervention began before weaning; in six studies dams were fed the diets throughout pregnancy [31][32][33][34][35][36], in two the dams were put on the diets in the second half of pregnancy [37,38], and in four, piglets were hand fed liquid diets from birth [39][40][41][42] (Table 1a). Seven of the 12 studies reported lower brain ARA in the low linoleic acid groups [37][38][39][40][41], whereas five studies detected no change in ARA [32][33][34]. The mean percentage of dietary fatty acids as linoleic acid in the studies finding no effect was 5.8% in the low group and 27% in the high group, whereas in the studies reporting an effect, linoleic acid accounted for on average 7% of dietary fatty acids in the low group and 37% in the higher groups.…”

Nutrition and neurodevelopment: mechanisms of developmental dysfunction and disease in later life

“…More than 20 years ago, it was speculated that the fatty acid composition of both the maternal and neonatal diet may have profound effects on the nature of the lipid deposited in the brain and on the structure and function of cell membranes in the central nervous system (Widdowson et al 1975). There is now clear evidence that the fatty acid composition of the newborn guinea-pig brain is in¯uenced by the nature of the maternal dietary fat (Pavey & Widdowson, 1980) and that the phospholipid composition of the cerebral cortex in babies is related to the infant's diet (Farquharson et al 1992). Moreover, a study in rats demonstrated widespread and profound deleterious effects of maternal low-protein diets on brain development and fatty acid metabolism in the young (Marin et al 1995); n-3 and n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids within brain phosphatidylethanolamine were both reduced by the maternal lowprotein diet, whereas only the linoleic acid-derived products were similarly affected in the corresponding phosphatidylcholine fraction.…”

Adventures in nutrition over half a century

“…We then looked at the fatty acid compostition of the phospholipid fractions of red cells, muscle and liver and found that they were also very different (Pavey et al 1976). Not only so but the myelin in all parts of the brain was affected by the nature of the dietary fat consumed by the mother during pregnancy (Pavey & Widdowson, 1980). The lipids of the brain are not immutable but can be altered quite readily at the time when myelination is proceeding rapidly.…”